Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Peaceful Assembly Bill(PA Bill) was suddenly tabled on 22/11/2011, and on 29/11/2011 it was passed by the Lower House of Parliament (Dewan Rakyat), despite much public protest...

SEVEN(7) days - not enough time for MPs to consult their constituents - it was just shoved down the throat of Malaysians...

It is still needs to be passed by Senate and receive the King's royal assent...

The new PA Bill just made it impossible for foreign nationals to protest any wrong doing. If there is a wrongdoing in Burma, now the Burmese in Malaysia will not be able to protest... Migrant workers also lose their right to protest ...Children lose their rights to protest despite the fact Malaysia has ratified the Child Rights Convention....

Why did the BN government do this and in this manner without consultations...and despite protests of its people...and this is not the first time it has done this. The same was done for the Employment Act amendments despite protests from workers, the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (that represents all workers in Malaysia, and who have over 800,000 members), and 100s of civil society groups not just from Malaysia...

Dictatorship - that is all one can say about the Malaysia's BN government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak....It certainly does not have the elements of Democracy... Control of almost all media, both print and electronic, ensures that only the government position gets to the public....

There is no time for rebuttal...no time for debate...As an example, the PM said no need for notification/permission of police if the peaceful assembly is to be done in 'designated places' - but alas the Act only says that the Minister will fix these designated places later... we do not even have examples of these designated places...There was just no time for even public discussion of the amendments to the Bill - Why? They amended and passed it within hours...

Government amends Assembly Bill

Hazlan Zakaria
11:58AM Nov 29, 2011

As announced by de facto law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz last Saturday, the government will table amendments to the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 during the committee stage of the debate for the Bill in the Dewan Rakyat, later today.

The draft amendments distributed to parliamentarians today includes six specific amendments to four sections which will see reductions in notification, appeals and response periods:

- 30 days notice period reduced to 10 days;

- Police must notify stakeholder within 24 hours of notice by organisers instead of 48 hour as proposed;

- Stakeholders can complain about proposed assembly within 48 hours, from five days previously;

- Police to reply to organisers within five days, as opposed to twelve days previously;

- Appeal to rejection or police discretionary orders to organisers can be done within 48 hours of receipt, from four days mandated prior to the amendments;

-Home Minister to answer any appeals within 48 hours instead of six days originally.

The amendments came in the footsteps of widespread opposition to the proposed Bill and was decided in a cabinet meeting last Friday, after consultations with the Attorney-General's Chamber.

Nazri had told reporters that he will prevail upon Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to waive the notification period for amendments, considering that the Bill is already in its second reading.

Nazri said he will also seek to insert the changes to the Bill in the committee stage later today, after the initial debate which is ongoing now.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak tabled the Bill for second reading last Thursday, though debate was postponed until today. Parliament will not end today until the Bill and five other minor bills to amend other laws are passed.- Malaysiakini, 29/11/2011, Government amends Assembly Bill

Done deal - Peaceful Assembly Bill passed

Aidila Razak
4:42PM Nov 29, 2011

The Dewan Rakyat passed the contentious Peaceful Assembly Bill after less than four hours of debate by six parliamentarians.

The Bill, which bans street demonstrations but allows regulated assemblies, was passed by voice vote, in the absence of Pakatan Rakyat MPs who had staged a walkout in the middle of the second reading.

Debate began at about 11am and resumed after lunch. The Bill was passed at 4.15pm.

The amendments tabled at committee stage were also passed by voice vote without the presence of Pakatan MPs.

The opposition MPs were absent when Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, wound up on points raised during the debate.

Referring to the opposition’s absence as "cowardice", Nazri (left) said the Bill is not unconstitutional as Section 2(b) of the federal constitution allows Parliament to enact legislation to protect public order and safety.

He also took on the Bar Council, which had marched in protest this morning, for going against the provision calling for advance notice of demonstrations by organisers.

"If (the Bar Council) calls the Bill messed up, then I think their heads are messed up....They don't agree with the provision for advance notice but they gave the police seven days’ notice for their assembly this morning.

"Why did they give notice? They want protection from police for fear of provocation....The provision for advance notice is not to block the assembly but to protect the demonstrators. The Bar Council knows this.”

He said the government had followed a European standard in deciding the length of advance notice, which says it should not be "unnecessarily lengthy but allow adequate time to allow authorities to allow fulfill necessary obligations".

"(The standard was not from) Zimbabwe or (Burma) as claimed by opposition. Europe. If Europe is not good enough then who should we follow? The moon? The stars?" he asked.

Burma's new law on public assembly requires five days’ notice, while the UK requires six days’ notice.

Raging against the Bar Council again, Nazri took on council president Lim Chee Wee who had told the press earlier that the Bill goes against the nation's history of street protests, including that led by Onn Jaafar against the Malayan Union.

"But Lim, that was a colonial government, not one chosen by the people... If you're unhappy then fight it out in an election. Let me tell you than the BN government has been chosen (to form) the government for 12 elections," he said.

Like Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) who had interjected during the debate, Nazri said that if the Bar Council is so brave (anak jantan) then it should register itself as a political party and contest in elections.

Nazri also said that the opposition has been misleading the rakyat by harping on the maximum fines provided by the Bill for those involved in illegal assemblies.

"The fine is up to RM10,000. Section 27 of the Police Act has a maximum fine of RM10,000 a minimum fine of RM3000.

"This Bill does not state a minimum...so it can be RM1 or RM3. The Bagan MP said the court should decide on an appeal if an application (to assemble) is rejected. He should be consistent.

"How can he support that the court is to decide on this but not allow the court to decide whether to fine up to RM10,000? What is this?"

He added that the Police Act had provided for a jail term upon conviction, but this is not so in the Bill, where the provision has been replaced with a maximum fine of RM20,000 for certain offences.

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